In the manufacturing process of electronic products, circuit boards play a crucial role. In circuit boards, substrate and PCB board are two common concepts. So, what is the difference between them?
Firstly, the substrate refers to the support for the installation of electronic components, also known as the carrier of electronic components. It is usually an insulating substrate with certain physical and electrical performance requirements, formed through local cold riveting technology to form a carrier with functions such as wiring, connection, installation, and testing. PCB board, also known as Printed Circuit Board, is a type of electronic component substrate board that forms the required graphics of connectors, wires, and other circuits of electronic components, and then produces them through printing.
From the above definition, we can see that a substrate does not necessarily have to have printed circuits, while a PCB board is a type of substrate with printed circuits. Therefore, the substrate can be considered as a category of PCB boards. In practical applications, substrates are usually used for situations that do not require complex printed circuits, such as simple connection wiring, while PCB boards can be applied to situations that require wiring, and can be said to be a further developed product based on substrates.
The different differences also determine their application scenarios. For example, substrates are very common in some simple electronic devices because they can easily connect and support components without the need for complex printed circuits for wiring. PCB boards are widely used in various electronic products of different levels of complexity, including mobile phones, computers, televisions, etc. Because PCB boards can be used for printed circuit wiring as needed, they can more flexibly meet the design requirements of various electronic products.
In general, the difference between a substrate and a PCB board lies in whether they have the function of printed circuits, which also determines their application scenarios in electronic product manufacturing. Both substrates and PCB boards are indispensable parts of electronic product manufacturing.